PARENTING FOR THE SCIENCE-MINDED -- by Gwen Dewar, Ph.D

Founded by an evolutionary anthropologist, this parenting resource is for critical thinkers -- people who want to understand child development from the perspectives of psychology, anthropology, evolution, and cognitive neuroscience.

I’ve got opinions. But who cares? You might be a scientist, physician, or teacher. Maybe you're an educated, skeptical layperson who loves science. Whatever the case, you don't need a sermon. You need evidence. You can draw your own conclusions.

So here it is: No folk theories. No preachy advice. No authoritarian pronouncements or pseudoscientific political dogma. Instead, you’ll find my analysis of the research, fully-referenced so you know where to go if you want to dig deeper yourself.

What is baby sign language? Should we teach our babies to sign? There’s no compelling evidence that baby signing programs yield long-term developmental benefits. But there is good reason to think that…

Praise for Parenting Science

"[A] welcome antidote to the opinion dressed up as science that
parents are constantly fed. Tear up your parenting books and get
yourselves over there..."

- Charles Fernyhough, Ph.D., developmental psychologist and author of A Thousand Days of Wonder: A Scientist’s Chronicle of his Daughter’s Developing Mind

"...[O]ne of the most awesome websites I’ve seen in a long time…In
addition to being helpful to academic parents, I see this site being
useful in anthropology courses on human sexuality, life history,
parenting, evolutionary medicine, evolutionary psychology, etc. Please
check it out!"

"I came across a great website run by Gwen Dewar, one I wish it had
been available to me when my children were young. I hope everyone
interested in math and kids will look at In search of the smart preschool board game and other pages on this site."

- Bill Marsh, Ph.D., in mathematics and author of MathInking, a blog about teaching math